The above is a collage of Charlotte, and her little shadow location, seen in the close-ups, behind the statue of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. And then there were more: over the next year, other shadows of deceased family members were also found as shadows behind this Statue of Mary:

On October 13, 2006 while preparing to pray the Holy Rosary with Mother Angelica on EWTN and thinking, today, Charlotte, my baby granddaughter, would have been 6 months old had she lived. This day was also the day after my brother’s death. How very fitting for someone who had made rosaries to have died on October 12, the feast of Our Lady of the Pillar.

My whole family was in mourning. My own little family was meeting at Charlotte’s tomb at Holy Cross Cemetery at 3pm so I had time to say the Rosary. As I was praying in front of the statue of Our Holy Mother with the nuns of the Angels’ Monastery just after 11:30 am, my eyes wondered to the side of the statue and rested on a little too familiar shadow on the wall. Charlotte! She was still fresh on my mind since June and here she was on the wall behind Our Lady. My mind couldn't register what I was seeing! Charlotte! My granddaughter's little baby face was on the wall behind Holy Mother. It looked like our favourite picture my son had sent to UCDs family magazine with the story, but in black and white.

Charlotte Elizabeth Gentile had died four months earlier on June 14, 2006. She was born with a missing chromosome, needed to digest protein, creating the fatal Urea Cycle Disorder (UCD). She lived only 2 months. Her formidable character affected anyone who came in contact with her. She was born on April 13, Holy Thursday night and lived a normal baby life on Good Friday. Later I came to look at this as a gift from Charlotte for allowing me this one day to continue with The Way of the Cross play at St. Mary’s, my church here in Brampton. The next morning Holy Saturday, I had just finished the Congratulations Michael and Sabina and Welcome Charlotte posters and would be going to see my first baby granddaughter when the shattering phone call came from my son not to come because Charlotte was in a coma. Our family friend and Pastor of St. Wilfrid’s in Toronto, Fr. Massi Lombardi baptized Charlotte on Easter Sunday. And for two months her maternal grandparents and I visited daily with her parents until the day came when we were called in for our goodbyes.

Two weeks before, on Pentecost, the little statue was given to me on behalf of St. Mary's Parish. It had been ordered before Christmas with the larger outdoor statue of the Immaculate Conception. Fr. Larry Marcille, the then Pastor, told me that Bishop Lacey had blessed the little white statue! It was well known that he himself had been healed with the waters of Lourdes.

It had become a tradition at St. Mary’s that the children and youths would honour all Three Persons of the Holy Trinity, God the Father at Thanksgiving in thanksgiving, God the Son, with The Way of the Cross on Good Friday, a re-enactment of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday and, since our parish children would honour the Holy Spirit on Pentecost which happened to coincide with the visit by our Regional Bishop John Boissonneau, the little 2-foot statue would be presented to me then. This was June 4, and on June 14, 2006, Charlotte would be in Heaven.

Four months later, Charlotte came for a visit to earth, and stayed as a shadow imprint behind the statue of Our Holy Mother. I was saying the Holy Rosary in front of this little white statue when my eyes wondered to the right and there on the wall was a perfect shadow of baby Charlotte! Charlotte? How could this be? What a surprise! What silence with such profound joy. I stood with my rosary in hand and just looked. I didn’t tell anyone at first, not even her parents that day at the mausoleum, because I didn’t know what to make of it, or how to explain it.

When I eventually recovered from the unexpected encounter, and resigned to her presence, there, on the wall, I took pictures of the little shadow but nothing showed up on the camera. I knew it! It was not real or it could not be photographed. But within 2 weeks my youngest, Robert passed by, saw it and believed: Oh yeah! That's Charlotte! Her parents could see her as did the few who came to visit. Then one day, in conversation I mentioned that I was disappointed in my new camera because the flash blanched the true colour of flowers in close-up photos. My niece Laura suggested I remove the flash. I didn’t know there was this option. On the way home, I thought…Charlotte’s shadow! She had been on my wall for months. If I found how to remove the flash, I might be able to take a picture of the Charlotte Shadow! My daughter showed me and in March 2007, there was Charlotte’s shadow in the picture!!!

Reviewing how this little baby shadow came to be on the wall, at that exact spot and all the conditions and events that took place for this to happen was a feat in logistics that occurs only in God-incidences. If this were a movie, pressing fast forward would create this map of my movements:1. Finding a place for Mary: For the first four months, I tried to find the right place for Mary’s statue. I tried different set-ups. A side table was too low. Then I found the perfect wooden pedestal at the front door, brought it into the foyer, fitting well under the semi-circular stairway and placed Mary on it. It really was perfect.2. Finding the ornate wreath: At the end of September I went to the Church Bazaar sponsored by the Catholic Women’s League, and brought home a creamy beige wrought iron circle decorated with leaves and swirls. I loved it but didn’t know what it was for so I thought I might just put it on the wall. I held up the circular ornament and placed it in front of me to see where and on which wall I would put it. Yes! Why didn't I think of it! The wrought iron design fit perfectly as an ornament behind Mary’s Statue. If I had tried to order it, it would never have been this perfect.3. Finding a way to position the ornament behind the statue: Attaching the circle to the wall would make a hole in the plaster if and when I decided to rearrange everything. Putting a nail into the wood above the statue would ruin the staircase. I found twine string that blended in with the neutral colours and the carpet. I lifted the circle gently behind the statue and moved it around until I had the length of the string at the right height behind the statue, but it still couldn’t be done because the stair post I was using didn’t match up with where it should hang. Maybe long floral staples would help. I wrapped the string around the horseshoe-like pins and inserted the thin ends into the space between the wood and molding to center the circle ornament from where it hung a bit to the side. It worked! The circle and Mary fit beautifully together.4. Having a window above the stairway: The shadow would not have been made at all without the window above the entranceway. The light shone into the two-story atrium. Had I placed Mary’s Statue anywhere else in the house, the ornate circle behind her would not likely produce a shadow, weather permitting; it seems to be at its best in the near noon hour/holy hour, in the afternoon. Nor would there be a shadow behind the ornament if it had been fitted on a flat wall. The ornament hangs slightly away from the wall because of the stairway ledge.

Post Script: I never realized until a year later that the day I saw Baby Charlotte’s Shadow, October 13, 2006, was the last day of the Marian Apparitions to the children of Fatima and the day of the great miracle remembered forever as the day the sun danced; the day of the full public manifestation of heaven that proved Mary had truly come to visit earth. And that's the day Charlotte also came down to visit earth too following her Holy Mother's footsteps. Thank you Holy Mother and Charlotte, thank you for leaving us this beautiful sign of love for your parents on earthMichael & Sabina, your two sisters Fiona and Caroline and for all our of families.

It took over a year to identify the other shadows around the Statue of Our Lady. After finding Charlotte’s shadow, I did not immediately think of looking for other shadows.I was simply stunned and concerned myself on taking a picture of it to show someone else.My children came to look and were speechless, especially Charlotte’s parents, Michael and Sabina.Eventually my eyes roamed around the ornament and there were other shadows.While Charlotte remains the reigning sharp and undeniably strong shadow image,the others eventually became recognizable faces.

Below is the picture of Mary and the shadows around her taken on 2012-12-27, two days after Christmas.It was one of those darker winter days when on such rare occasions all shadows have a deeper imprint against the wall:Charlotte: on the right above Our Lady's left handGino & St. Padre Pio hologram: to the left of Charlotte and a little above Mary's left shoulderNonnetta/Grandma: above Gino & near and above Our Lady's headDad: on the left above Our Lady's right handGrandpa: above Dad and above Our Lady's left shoulderFurther down are the individual shadows:

This shadow image of Grandma "Nonnetta" or Nonna in Italian,was very well defined but remained unrecognized until Christmas 2007.David my nephew, had transferred film and old family photos onto a CDand as we watched and reminisced with the special events that gather families together,there it was! The last shadow to be identified was Nonnetta. Just like the shadow!Even the bun at the back of her head was in the shadow.

It was now 14 months after I had seen Charlotte's shadowthe day after my brother's death on October 12, 2006.Had she lived, Charlotte would have been 6 months old on October 13, 2006.This date had another connection that I had not made until a year later:October 13 is Fatima's great Miracle of the Dancing Sun.Heaven's full public manifestation as proof that Mary had come down to earth.What a beautiful God-incidence!

Shadow # 5: my brother Gino and the superimposed image of St. Padre Pio -up from Our Lady's left shoulder and to the left of Charlotte's shadow

This shadow was a 'puzzler' for about a year.Every time I talked about little Charlotte and her shadow,I would add that there was a shadow close by that seemed to looklike Gino, our deceased brother, but the recognition flickered and another imagestood out even bolder and hid the other from view, much like an optical illusion.Looking at one image makes the other disappear. But whose image?

For over a year until All Saints and All Souls 2007,as people approached me with their condolences and to saythey knew by brother Gino because he had been their teacher,I repeated the story of St. Padre Pio's Blessing he had obtained for himselfand everyone who met him until he died.I can't remember which of the 2 days it was becausesometimes I'm in one day while saying the rosarybut the clock has turned to the next day.But is was near these 2 days that as I prayed the Holy Rosary,my eyes wondered to the holographic shadows tricking me with one and then the other,that my mind made the connection.I found the book with the picture of Padre Pio on the front cover and sure enough,there was a younger Padre Pio superimposed over Gino's image.Gino's characteristic smiling mouth was the beginning of St. Padre Pio's beard.

Other shadows behind the Statue of Our Lady were not immediately familiar.I recognized shadows 2 and 3 as the faces of Papá and Nonnittoon the CD photo collection my sister-in-law Donna gave me at Christmas of 2006.She had found original family photos among Gino’s possessionsand her son Jean-Paul had put them on a CD for us.One of my Grandfather’s pictures was exactly like the shadow on the wall.Even the hand at the side of his face is represented in the shadow.My Father’s picture was facing in a reversed direction but was also very much like him.

My Grandfather and Dad had died barely three months apart in 1981.Nonnitto was 92 and Papá was 65. Papá was forced to retire early.Cement masons and other construction workers at his timedid not wear masks and the dangerous consequences were not yet known.One of my Father’s famous lines was to quote Jesusand would say that he was born to serve his fatherand at his father’s death at 92, he added that his work was now doneand he was ready to go home. This was September and in December,after receiving his first and only pension check he died from work-related emphysema.